Rebecca Lelli
American Education
18 September 2014
Outside of School Influences
When I was younger I had several outside of school activities. These included softball, basketball, girl scouts, gymnastics, tennis, and a few others. However, the activity that I was most involved in when I was younger would definitely have to be softball. Starting at the age of six in tee ball and progressing to games that were actually competitive was perhaps one of my favorite things to do. I cannot pretend that I was one of the better players in all the age levels (I certainly was not), but doing my best and seeing a positive result from hard work made me happy. Softball helped me learn to become more patient, to work as a team, and to pull my own weight in any group setting.
The first softball team that I can remember being on was actually a slow pitch team as appose to fast pitch. The difference is that in slow pitch the pitcher simply needs to lob the ball at the catcher underhanded into a reasonable strike zone. In fast pitch the pitcher is required to have more skill, rotating their arm in a full circle and releasing at just the right spot to throw a strike. To put things simply, I hated slow pitch. When I was up in the batter's box, I could never time the ball just right because it was coming in at an angle and not straight across. I would strike out many times more than I would walk or hit. Luckily, the next year the softball league decided to change to fast pitch.
Learning the fundamentals of any sport is not easy. If you learn the wrong way the first time, it is very difficult to force your muscle memory to unlearn it and then relearn a different way. For example, I was taught very early on to throw side armed, which can do damage to the elbow. At first no one told me I was throwing incorrectly, and it worked well enough during my younger years. One year my team was the runner up champions for the entire league. But eventually when I practiced with my dad I became so frustrated that my throwing was inaccurate that I often threw my glove on the ground and stormed off.
By the time I learned what I was doing wrong, it was nearly impossible to fix my throwing form. I might practice throwing correctly, but in the heat of a game I kept reverting back to my typical throwing. I probably could have been put in more during school softball games, but my throwing was so unreliablemy coaches did not want to risk it. Some days I would go home and have to ice my elbow for an hour to dull the pain. Butnone of this stopped me from playing the sport I loved. Although I would describe myself as an impatient person, I am equally as stubborn and refuse to quit playing when other girls would have stopped long ago.
Most recently I played on an 18 and under team last summer in Coventry. Our team name was Coventry Crush and our colors were black and pink. Our socks had breast cancer ribbon patterns all over them, as a tribute to the women who were fighting. That team was a good experience. The skill level was good even though our record did not show it, and the girls were nice, if a bit hyper.Our coaches were a few of the dads, which was certainly....interesting. The dads would get really competitive about the games and lose their tempers fairly easily if they felt we were not playing to the best of our ability. However, when the coaches were not angrythey were so funny to be around, because they always teased their daughters and cracked jokes as we played. That was my last non-adult team, and I do not know when I will play again, but I hope it will be soon.
Softball kept me active through the years and I am glad my parents signed me up when I was little. Maybe the reason I loved it so much was because my dad played baseball as a kid. But then again, my mom was a runner and I hate running, so maybe it was just my own trait. What I do know is that seeing an improvement with hard work and persistence was very self-satisfying, giving me confidence and empowerment during my early years.
American Education
18 September 2014
Outside of School Influences
When I was younger I had several outside of school activities. These included softball, basketball, girl scouts, gymnastics, tennis, and a few others. However, the activity that I was most involved in when I was younger would definitely have to be softball. Starting at the age of six in tee ball and progressing to games that were actually competitive was perhaps one of my favorite things to do. I cannot pretend that I was one of the better players in all the age levels (I certainly was not), but doing my best and seeing a positive result from hard work made me happy. Softball helped me learn to become more patient, to work as a team, and to pull my own weight in any group setting.
The first softball team that I can remember being on was actually a slow pitch team as appose to fast pitch. The difference is that in slow pitch the pitcher simply needs to lob the ball at the catcher underhanded into a reasonable strike zone. In fast pitch the pitcher is required to have more skill, rotating their arm in a full circle and releasing at just the right spot to throw a strike. To put things simply, I hated slow pitch. When I was up in the batter's box, I could never time the ball just right because it was coming in at an angle and not straight across. I would strike out many times more than I would walk or hit. Luckily, the next year the softball league decided to change to fast pitch.
Learning the fundamentals of any sport is not easy. If you learn the wrong way the first time, it is very difficult to force your muscle memory to unlearn it and then relearn a different way. For example, I was taught very early on to throw side armed, which can do damage to the elbow. At first no one told me I was throwing incorrectly, and it worked well enough during my younger years. One year my team was the runner up champions for the entire league. But eventually when I practiced with my dad I became so frustrated that my throwing was inaccurate that I often threw my glove on the ground and stormed off.
By the time I learned what I was doing wrong, it was nearly impossible to fix my throwing form. I might practice throwing correctly, but in the heat of a game I kept reverting back to my typical throwing. I probably could have been put in more during school softball games, but my throwing was so unreliable my coaches did not want to risk it. Some days I would go home and have to ice my elbow for an hour to dull the pain. But none of this stopped me from playing the sport I loved. Although I would describe myself as an impatient person, I am equally as stubborn and refuse to quit playing when other girls would have stopped long ago.
Most recently I played on an 18 and under team last summer in Coventry. Our team name was Coventry Crush and our colors were black and pink. Our socks had breast cancer ribbon patterns all over them, as a tribute to the women who were fighting. That team was a good experience. The skill level was good even though our record did not show it, and the girls were nice, if a bit hyper. Our coaches were a few of the dads, which was certainly....interesting. The dads would get really competitive about the games and lose their tempers fairly easily if they felt we were not playing to the best of our ability. However, when the coaches were not angry they were so funny to be around, because they always teased their daughters and cracked jokes as we played. That was my last non-adult team, and I do not know when I will play again, but I hope it will be soon.
Softball kept me active through the years and I am glad my parents signed me up when I was little. Maybe the reason I loved it so much was because my dad played baseball as a kid. But then again, my mom was a runner and I hate running, so maybe it was just my own trait. What I do know is that seeing an improvement with hard work and persistence was very self-satisfying, giving me confidence and empowerment during my early years.